Selected Excellent Works from the National Undergraduate Embedded Systems Competition. 2002

Author: National College Students Embedded System Competition Organizing Committee
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-01-01
Features: The National College Students Electronic Design Competition, jointly advocated and strongly supported by the Higher Education Department of the State Education Commission and the Personnel Department of the Ministry of Information Industry, has been successfully held for five editions (every two years) since 1994. It has received the attention and active response of most higher education institutions in China that offer electronic information-related majors, and its scale and influence have been continuously expanding, making it one of the most successful and widely recognized university subject competitions in practice. Building on this foundation, the Shanghai division of the National College Students Electronic Design Competition and Intel Corporation planned an Embedded System Special Competition. This idea was strongly supported by the National Competition Organizing Committee and leaders of the Higher Education Department of the State Education Commission and the Personnel Department of the Ministry of Information Industry, and it was decided to expand it into the first national university-level Embedded System Special Competition for selected institutions. This special competition was organized by the National College Students Electronic Design Competition Organizing Committee, co-organized by the Shanghai division of the National College Students Electronic Design Competition Organizing Committee and Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and co-sponsored by Intel (China) Limited. It also received support from ARM (China), the Microsoft Asia Research Institute, and the Microsoft Global Technology Center Education Program.
Professor Wang Yue, Director of the National College Students Electronic Design Competition Organizing Committee, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and Honorary President of Beijing Institute of Technology, said: "The 2002 National College Students Electronic Design Competition Intel Embedded System Special Competition provided students with broader opportunities to engage with cutting-edge technology and develop hands-on and practical skills. At the same time, embedded systems are one of the key focuses of teaching reform both domestically and internationally. The development of this special competition will promote the update, integration, and reform of teaching content in fundamental courses for electronic information-related majors, as well as the construction of curricula."
Dr. Wang Wenhàn, Director of the Core Software Department (former General Manager of the Intel China Software Lab) at Intel, said: "In late 2000, Intel launched PCA, an open architecture specifically designed to accelerate the research and deployment of next-generation wireless internet user devices. This Embedded System Competition aims to encourage students to develop embedded systems for handheld terminals based on this architecture, enabling them to keep pace with advanced global technology. At the same time, Intel China will continue to actively participate in and support China's education sector. This special competition will be integrated with Intel's academic relationship program in higher education in China, further strengthening the academic ties between Intel and key universities and research institutions in the country, supporting their work in admissions, research, and market development."
Participants in this special competition were full-time undergraduate students, forming teams of three (including one pre-event mentor). Teams from 28 groups across 15 institutions in six provinces and cities, including Peking University, Tsinghua University, Beihang University, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Fudan University, Tongji University, Shanghai University, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xidian University, Harbin Institute of Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, and Wuhan University, were invited to participate.
This competition differed from previous formats by selecting "embedded systems," which are increasingly widely used in fields such as electronics, communications, and signal processing, as the competition topic. It used the industry-leading Intel StrongARM SA-1110 processor and adopted a "training before competition" and open competition model, ensuring that the National College Students Electronic Design Competition was closely integrated with teaching and practical projects. This would enhance students' hands-on and engineering practical skills, promote the update, integration, and reform of teaching content in fundamental courses for electronic information-related majors, and support curriculum development.
The competition did not have a pre-set problem, ready-made answers, or uniform standards, allowing for free imagination and design. The key was that the submitted works should be practical and have real-world significance, thereby fostering students' innovative awareness, innovative capabilities, and sensitivity to societal needs.
With strong financial support from Intel, Shanghai Jiao Tong University independently designed and developed the JingWei () board as the competition's development platform. It is an experimental development board based on the Intel SA-1110 chip, capable of implementing almost all functions of a high-performance handheld computer, with additional interfaces and peripherals. As an experimental development circuit, it was designed not only with performance in mind but also with high testability and scalability.
After a week of closed training and three months of effort, each team completed its competition entry, which included both hardware and software components, showcasing a wide range of applications for embedded systems in fields such as wireless communications, intelligent control, and multimedia demonstrations.
At the strong request of faculty and students from various universities, the National College Students Embedded System Special Competition Organizing Committee decided to publish Selected Outstanding Works of the National College Students Embedded System Special Competition (2002). The book includes winning works from the first National College Students Embedded System Special Competition (2002). Before publication, authors were required to revise their manuscripts, focusing on scientific accuracy and writing quality, while remaining faithful to the original design. The organizing committee hired relevant experts to complete the review process in August 2003.
Since the book reflects the design work completed by students within a limited time, these works are not perfect and have shortcomings in both scientific accuracy and writing standards, with noticeable gaps. The editors hope that students reading this book will learn from the strengths of the manuscripts while independently thinking about their weaknesses, which will also contribute to the development of their abilities and qualities.